/*
 *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 *  You may obtain a copy of the License at 
 * 
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 *  limitations under the License.
 *  
 */

using System;
using java = biz.ritter.javapi;

namespace org.apache.commons.collections
{

    /**
     * Defines a map that can be iterated directly without needing to create an entry set.
     * <p>
     * A map iterator is an efficient way of iterating over maps.
     * There is no need to access the entry set or cast to Map Entry objects.
     * <pre>
     * IterableMap map = new HashedMap();
     * MapIterator it = map.mapIterator();
     * while (it.hasNext()) {
     *   Object key = it.next();
     *   Object value = it.getValue();
     *   it.setValue("newValue");
     * }
     * </pre>
     * 
     * @since Commons Collections 3.0
     * @version $Revision$ $Date$
     *
     * @author Stephen Colebourne
     */
    public interface IterableMap : java.util.Map<Object,Object>
    {

        /**
         * Obtains a <code>MapIterator</code> over the map.
         * <p>
         * A map iterator is an efficient way of iterating over maps.
         * There is no need to access the entry set or cast to Map Entry objects.
         * <pre>
         * IterableMap map = new HashedMap();
         * MapIterator it = map.mapIterator();
         * while (it.hasNext()) {
         *   Object key = it.next();
         *   Object value = it.getValue();
         *   it.setValue("newValue");
         * }
         * </pre>
         * 
         * @return a map iterator
         */
        MapIterator mapIterator();

    }
}